Clint Eastwood's look at Chris Kyle's legacy as American's deadliest marksman claimed its first Awards Season victim: the other war story.

This past weekend, as it slowly slinks past the $300 million mark at the box office and prepares to play (possible) spoiler to Boyhood and Birdman at this year’s Academy Awards, American Sniper remains one of the most talked about and controversial films of 2014.

Telling the supposedly true tale of America’s deadliest marksman, Chris Kyle (the film is based on his autobiography) and showing the hardship both abroad and at home for such men, director Clint Eastwood redeemed himself after the disastrous Jersey Boys to prove that, when it comes to mindless jingoism and fake babies, nobody does it better than the aging icon.

Because of its unjustified snubbing, Selma and the artists involve now face an uphill battle in the movie industry they never should have to face.

Over the last few days, ever since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its nominations for the 2014/15 Oscars, there’s been a groundswell of criticism over what many in the press are calling “the whitest” pool of candidates since the mid ‘90s. The lack of diversity, especially in the main categories (Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Actress, Director, and Screenwriting) has the La-Z-Boy pundits up in arms, with the lack of respect for Paramount’s Civil Rights epic, Selma, front and center.

Following massive hacking and numerous attack threats, Sony has decided not the release the political comedy The Interview. Here's why that is a bad idea.

It’s the hack still being heard around the world, a surreal situation made even more bizarre by the reaction of the target and the accompanying response from the community. Before Sony succumbed to the pressure put on it by a shadowy group known only as the “Guardians of Peace”, which led to the studio pulling the proposed Seth Rogen/James Franco political comedy The Interview from distribution, it was simply dealing with the collective face egg that comes from your private corporate business becoming Reddit fodder.

Was online "availability" and a anti-hard "R" stance the real reasons this third film in the action franchise failed?

As the final tallies were coming in and the titles were being ranked, tongues all over Tinseltown were in full blown wagging mode over the news that the latest installment in Sylvester Stallone’s post-millennial career reboot, The Expendables, had wound up in a very disappointing fourth place.

Not first. That still belongs to those horrid Michael Bay produced Ninja Turtles. Not second, as the great Guardians of the Galaxy holds that spot. Not even third, with the poorly timed Let’s Be Cops defying the situation in Ferguson, Missouri to rustle up enough ticket sales to take said position.

As with much art, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes signposts situations we'd otherwise ignore or try to avoid, provides insights, and provokes questions. This film, like all great art, is alive, vital, and transcendent.

We live in troubling times. All around us our examples of our inability to adapt while using technology and its tainted perks as a means of further escape. We claim victories over social ills (racism, economic inequality) where no triumphs truly exist and celebrate those who ride such unrealities all the way to a position of power. In these dark and disturbing days, a film like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes speaks louder than any pundit’s proclamations. As with much art, it reflects the era in which it was made. As with all art, it signposts situations we’d otherwise ignore or try to avoid, provides insights, and provokes questions. This film, like all great art, is alive, vital, and transcendent.